Fleet FAQ

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Fleet FAQ? Fuel Management

June 13, 2019

Q. How do you build a tailored payment solution for your fleet?

A. Customization is the future. It’s true in many retail industries and we’re already seeing that with many of our customers. They don’t necessarily want high-technology. They just want the right tech. So we work with the larger fleets to make sure they’re getting what they expect in terms of the cost transparency, controls, discounts, reporting, and finding additional solutions outside the norm, whether that’s a business’s EVs or some mission-critical need to always have access to fuel in a disaster or emergency, or being able to ensure quick emergency roadside service after an accident or breakdown. Tailored payment solutions work best for fleets. There really is no “one size fits all” package out there, although the fleet card is certainly the one foundational piece for most businesses.

Expert Bio

Answered by : Bernie Kanavagh from WEX

Senior Vice President and General Manager

A 27-year fleet professional, Bernie Kavanagh currently serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Large Fleet at WEX Inc. He joined the company in 1996 and his career has been a steady progression of increased sales and marketing responsibility. Kavanagh serves on industry related boards and is a frequent speaker at payment industry conferences focusing on fuel trends and technology in the payment space. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of New Jersey and is an active member of NAFA, AFLA, NCSFA and AALA. Prior to joining WEX, Kavanagh held a number of roles with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Enterprise Fleet Management.

A 27-year fleet professional, Bernie Kavanagh currently serves as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Large Fleet at WEX Inc. He joined the company in 1996 and his career has been a steady progression of increased sales and marketing responsibility. Kavanagh serves on industry related boards and is a frequent speaker at payment industry conferences focusing on fuel trends and technology in the payment space. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the College of New Jersey and is an active member of NAFA, AFLA, NCSFA and AALA. Prior to joining WEX, Kavanagh held a number of roles with Enterprise Rent-A-Car and Enterprise Fleet Management.

Fleet FAQ? Fuel Management, Questions?

A. Partnership has been a core WEX value forever. And some of the legacy partners that we have are evolving, so those partnerships are looking and feeling a little different as everyone continues to evolve their products.
We had a discussion with one of our big, long-standing FMC partners, and traditionally it's been supplying cards and fuel management service to their customers. But as they're starting to develop different mobile applications...

A. Well, we’re already there with many of our products.
Things like telematics -- collecting the data and helping to reduce accidents and help driver safety, optimizing routes, those kinds of things – have been in our arsenal for a while, about 17 years.
DriverDash is a mobile fuel payments platform now...

A. WEX got started by creating a number of different technological controls to help companies with vehicles manage their fuel spend, and we attended a Connected Car conference in southern California in June to showcase how...

A. It’s an umbrella term that really encompasses a lot, depending on who is speaking.
Is it driver assist technology? Is it autonomous vehicles? Navigation and traffic apps? EV charging? Payments? Emergency road service?
It’s all of those things, and will become...

A. Yes. In June, WEX and ChargePoint announced a merchant agreement we believe will expand electic vehicle charging to fleets throughout the U.S. Now, up to 11 million WEX Fleet cardholders can pay for charges at more than 66,000 places to charge on the ChargePoint network.
We tested and developed...

A. Mobile fuel payments are more secure than the physical card swipe because, with mobile, there’s no physical contact between the card and the fueling terminal. So, there’s no way for the information on your card to be swiped, so to speak.
That’s the short answer. The longer answer is...

A. Beyond the big one – a shortage of drivers -- three common challenges fleet managers tell us about: overabundance of administrative tasks, rising cost of fuel, lack of transparency in their business operations. WEX can help overcome all these. That’s why fleet...

A. Adding telematics to your fleet card lets you monitor operations almost second-by-second, to spot performance outliers and inefficiencies that often go unseen from just a fuel file or activity report. So, this helps government fleet managers get more out of...

A. When many people think of automation, they think of self-driving; however, automation is everything from robotics in logistics to automated payment software—both of which help the fleet industry progress and its partners succeed. The innovation behind WEX’s Fleet One Factoring helps partners keep...

A. Drivers are often at the backbone of your daily operations, so it’s important to keep them satisfied and loyal to your business, especially given recruitment challenges that appear to be getting tougher. So, companies need every advantage to help drivers overcome challenges and eliminate some of the obstacles out on the road. One way they can do that...